


Handholding

by NonHetaliaFicsForFriends (PangaeaWritesLotsOfShit)



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Inaccurate as heck, M/M, happy birthday whey, i don't know what tags to use, i wish i knew a better title
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-28
Updated: 2019-11-28
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:00:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21598786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PangaeaWritesLotsOfShit/pseuds/NonHetaliaFicsForFriends
Summary: A late birthday fic for Whey, a good friend. I'm still at the beginning of the battle city arc, so don't expect too much when it comes to accuracies. I've had to pull stuff out of my nose to make the specific scenario happen, but here it is. I didn't proof read either, so some words might just be flat out missing. Maybe when I'm less tired. I'm very busy the next few days though, so I had to finish it tonight. I'll probably proofread at some later point, but for now I just wanted to have it published.
Relationships: Atem/Kaiba Seto, Kaiba Seto/Yami Yuugi, Kaiba Seto/Yami Yuugi | Atem
Comments: 1
Kudos: 13





	Handholding

**Author's Note:**

> A late birthday fic for Whey, a good friend. I'm still at the beginning of the battle city arc, so don't expect too much when it comes to accuracies. I've had to pull stuff out of my nose to make the specific scenario happen, but here it is. I didn't proof read either, so some words might just be flat out missing. Maybe when I'm less tired. I'm very busy the next few days though, so I had to finish it tonight. I'll probably proofread at some later point, but for now I just wanted to have it published.

“....been failing. Duelists are swarming stores, trying to get a refund or to have their duel disks repaired. It is still unclear which technical error caused the holographic technology to malfunction. Specialists say-”

Seto switched the TV off. He knew of the complaints already. He was swarmed with them. The thing was, even he couldn’t find out what the matter was. Last time he dueled, everything was still working properly. He had been running tests, but according to them, the duel disks were working as they should. Unless there was something wrong with the cards themselves, there was no reason for it to-  _ the cards themselves _ . Seto got up and dialed a number.

“Hello, Isis? Yes, there’s something I’d like to talk about.”

Not even half an hour later, they were sat at one of the conference tables at Kaiba Corp. Isis had contacted Yugi Mutou as well, and Mokuba was sitting there as well, on behalf of trying to fulfill his role as vice president. It didn’t matter that he technically didn’t do anything and only held the title because Seto let him, he liked to join things like these and look important.

“So you’re suggesting something is wrong with the duel monster cards?” Isis held out her hand. “May I see your deck? Perhaps I can find something.” Seto wordlessly placed his deck in her hand. Isis looked through them carefully before giving them back. “I could indeed find something. Or rather, nothing.”

“What do you mean?”

“The cards… they used to have energy, linking them to the spirit world. They held the souls of the monsters depicted. But for some reason, the connection is severed. All these cards are now are colourful pieces of cardboard. You can still duel with them, but it won’t be the same.”

Seto kept silent for a while. “Are you saying the reason the duel disks could display holograms is because of that connection?”

“Correct.”

“Is there a way to reestablish this connection? Do you know why it’s been severed?”

Isis shook her head. “Something is blocking me. I can’t sense more. The fastest way to find out would be to travel to the spirit world, but who knows how safe it is under these conditions. You might not return. Or worse.”

Seto leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms. Heavy silence hung in the room. “Hypothetically speaking…. if someone were to travel to the spirit world successfully and find out what caused the connection to be severed… would there be a way to restore it?”

“You can’t!” Mokuba’s voice interrupted them. “I won’t let you! We can hire someone for that!”

Of course he had caught on. Seto stood up and kneeled down next to Mokuba’s seat. “I don’t trust anyone I can hire for money. This is a delicate case. I know enough about Duel Monsters to be safe. Even if they’re not here, I still have my Blue Eyes.” He held out his pinky. “You are important to me. But this is too. I need to do this. I promise I’ll come back safely. Do you trust me?” Mokuba still looked unsure, frightened, but in the end he hooked his pinky with Seto’s.

“You have to play with me when you come back.”

“Of course.” Seto ruffled Mokuba’s hair and turned back to Isis. “Well?”

“It might be possible. It all depends on the source.”

Seto nodded. “That’s enough. Do you have a way to send me there?”

“Wait a moment.” A new voice interrupted them. Atem had stood up. “I need to go too. This affects me as much as you.”

“I expected as much. Why else would Isis bring you along? But that doesn’t mean I’ll let you hold me back. I’ll lead the whole thing.” Atem didn’t seem too pleased about that, but didn’t argue. Seto turned back to Isis. “So, can you send us there?”

“I can. But again, I must warn you. It can be very dangerous.” Isis stood up as well, walking over to Seto and Atem. “I will make some preparations. I am going to need chalk and both of your decks, among other things. Please, give me some time. I will call you when I’m done.”

About an hour later, Isis was done with the preparations in the room Seto had provided. A wall was covered in hieroglyphics and other symbols. Isis handed them a deck. “I took out all monster cards and left just spells. It’s not much, but I hope it can help you in some way. If the gate doesn’t work by the time you are done, you can still get back through one of the monster cards.”

“The other me… will we both pass through? Or will he remain here?”

Isis smiled gently. “I see you are worried about him. Do not worry, I adjusted everything accordingly. Only you and Kaiba will pass through. Your other self will stay on this side.”

Atem nodded, relief written on his face. At least Yugi would be safe. Seto took the deck Isis had prepared and looked back at the wall that would function as gate. “Can we already pass through?”

“In a moment.” Isis touched one hieroglyph in the middle and every other symbol began to glow. She stepped aside, a somber look on her face. “Safe travels.”

Seto didn’t wait for any further encouragement, he stepped inside the glow and passed through the wall with ease. It took a moment for his vision to return to normal, and after he blinked away the dancing spots, his vision was filled with barren wasteland.

“This is not the spirit world I remember.” Atem’s voice came from beside him. “Why is it so barren? It used to be lush and green.”

“It’s probably tied to the connection breaking.” Seto tried to find a fix point, something to orientate himself with, but everything looked the same to him. Crippled dead trees, withered grass, dry earth, a cloud filled sky. “I suppose you didn’t have a direction finding spell card in your deck?”

Atem shook his head. “We can only guess. Even I don’t recognize where we’re supposed to be. When in doubt, head north. Which is easier said than done without the sun as orientation point.”

“Oh? I thought you knew everything about this place. Not so great now, are we?”

Atem just glared back at Seto and started walking in a random direction. Seto had no choice but to follow. “I know more than you and that’s enough.”

They kept walking in silence, leaving occasional markers along the way to make sure they weren’t walking in circles. Neither of them was in the mood for the usual taunts and snarky remarks. It was hard to tell how long they had been walking, there was no sun, clocks were useless and time seemed to stretch itself eternally. At some points they had stopped and searched through the deck of spells in the crazy hope to find something helpful, but since they weren’t even in a duel, all the cards were useless. Even if they could somehow activate the cards they had, there was nothing they could have used them for. After walking for what could have been hours or possibly days, Seto spotted something glowing in the distance. They began heading in that direction, slowly being able to make out more.

“It’s a fire.” Seto wasn’t sure how Atem could tell from this distance, but he sounded sure of it. “I know what big fires look like. This could as well engulf a whole city.” Seto looked back from Atem to the glow in the distance.

“If that’s the case, maybe we can find some hint about our situation.”

“Or maybe it’s a trap.”

“A trap. For humans. In the spirit world.” Seto gave Atem a dry look. “Very likely.” He set off in the direction of the fire. “I don’t know about you, but I actually want to fix this.” Atem only huffed before following him. What choice did they have? It was the only thing close to a clue they had.

The fire grew closer quickly. Soon they could feel the heat of it, smell the smoke and make out various burning places. Seto had taken off his shirt and tied it around his mouth and nose. Atem had soon followed suit. Even though it felt like their skin was melting off their bodies and their eyes were drying out, they kept advancing inside the flames until they found the hearth. It was an old temple that would have looked magnificent and imposing if it hadn’t been on fire. Even Seto could still feel the power it radiated despite the circumstances.

“This is it.” Atem was barely audible over the sound of flames destroying their surroundings. “This has to be the reason the connection is severed.”

_ “This puny temple? Don’t give it too much credit.” _

The new voice was everywhere and nowhere at the same time, hollow yet powerful. Black matter spread everywhere, killing the flames, but also transforming everything in the type of barren wasteland they had been seeing the whole time while travelling Only the charred remains of the temple were left. The dark matter gathered and manifested in front of them into a human shaped figure.

_ “It was merely the last step to completing the first phase of my plan.” _

Although it had no face, Seto was able to tell that it smiled. The figure continued, undeterred by any reactions it got.

_ “You humans never really understood the greatness you had by being able to access this world anyway. You treated it like granted, mistreated its inhabitants. Once they understand, they will be thankful and gladly help me take over the human world as well.” _

“You’re wrong!” Atem stepped forward. “We love the spirits. They’re important to us. We want to stay with them.”

_ “Fool. Do you think anyone except you cares about the spirits the way you do? I know that the one with you used to mistreat them, acting like they were mere tools. And you’re not any better. You pretend to love all your spirits, but really, they’re just playthings to you.” _

“That’s a lie!” Atem lashed out, attempting to punch the figure, but it was like trying to punch mist. His fist passed through without doing any damage. When he pulled back, his hand felt numb, like it was covered in a freeze burn. He tried to move his fingers, but they only moved very slowly. “What did you do?”

_ “I don’t advise you to try touching me if you want to live. Not that you’ll live much longer anyways, but at least you’ll suffer less.” _

The figure laughed coldly, sending chills down Seto’s spine. Whatever this thing was, it was dangerous. They needed a plan, fast.

“So you want to take over the human world? We won’t let you.” Seto pulled out the deck of spells. “We will duel you. You can use any creature you want. We will only use spells. If we win, you stop and restore the connection between the worlds.”

_ “Interesting.” _

The figure seemed bemused.

_ “Sure, why not. Entertain me. But if you lose, I will claim both of your souls.” _

Seto didn’t reply and instead shuffled the deck. Atem only looked at him like he’d lost his mind.

“What are you doing? Do you think we really can win with only spell cards?”

“If you have a better idea, let me hear it.” Seto didn’t take his gaze off the figure. He knew the chance was low, but he was determined. It was strange how their roles had been reversed. Atem didn’t reply, instead he pulled Seto’s arm down.

“Let me see your hand. We’re both in this. I will play too.”

It looked hopeless. Most spell cards relied on other cards, be it spell or monster, already being on the field. Their best chances were to draw a spell card that let you control your opponent’s monster.

“We both start with 3000 life points. Atem and I will share our points.”

_ “Good, good. I will let you begin, since you are at a disadvantage.” _

Atem stared at their current hand. There was no card they could use. They’d have to discard one and draw another, but there was no guarantee it would be a useful card. What could they do? They had no monster cards, and even if they did, they would be useless. Then an idea struck him.

“We play polymerization.” Atem grabbed the card with his good hand and laid it down on the ground. Now it was Seto’s turn to stare at him as if he’d lost his mind.

“And what the hell are we supposed to polymerize?”

“Us.” Atem reached out, at first only hooking his pinky with Seto’s, then slowly taking the rest of his hand, lacing their fingers together. A warm feeling spread throughout his whole body, starting from his fingers, over his palm, up his arm until it slowly engulfed all of him. He held Seto’s hand tighter.

A lightness overcame Atem, there was a moment when he saw all of Seto’s memories, his thoughts, his feelings. And he understood. This man was Seto Kaiba. They shared one brain, one consciousness, knew everything about each other. 

When his vision focussed again, the two of them were gone. In place stood a new person, not quite Atem, not quite Seto. “I draw another card and end my turn.”

_ “Fascinating. Who knew humans were capable of that. But that won’t change that I will destroy you. I summon the blue eyes white dragon.” _

Atem Kaiba drew another card and laid it on the ground. “I play brain control and pay 800 life points to take over the blue eyes.”

This was it. One very lucky draw and the game was theirs. It was only a matter of time until they won. The blue eyes wrapped itself loosely around Atem Kaiba, sensing the two who made up this person. The game didn’t even have to be continued. The blue eyes attacked the figure, eradicating every bit of black matter.

“Well, that was rather anticlimactic.” Atem Kaiba petted the dragon’s snout. He didn’t regret fusing. The new knowledge Seto and Atem gained about each other would make many matters so much simpler.

Slowly, the landscape began returning to normal again, the temple standing again like it had never faced even a spark before. Atem Kaiba walked inside, accompanied by the blue eyes. Studying the hieroglyphs, he knew how to return to the human world. The connection would establish itself again. All he had to do was find a wall that had the same symbols on it like the ones Isis drew. After a while of searching, he found it. Instead of a wall it was a pillar, but the symbols were unmistakingly the right ones.

“I suppose this is where I must bid you goodbye.” Atem Kaiba gently caressed the blue eyes, a little sad to part with him so soon. Such a majestic and powerful dragon. He would have loved to spend more time with him. “I- well, I suppose we, will see you on the other side. It might not be the same, but no matter what, you’re valuable to us. And not just as a strong spirit.”

The blue eyes let out a sound and nudged Atem Kaiba closer to the pillar. Such a wise creature. Of course the blue eyes already knew. “Until then.” The dragon received a last gentle pat and then Seto and Atem were engulfed by light. Their minds separated again and a feeling of loss overcame them. Neither had felt so whole, so completed before. It was dark out. Night had fallen by the time they were gone. Atem noticed they still held hands from before their polymerization. He didn’t let go. Maybe Seto didn’t notice, but he didn’t let go either.

“How about we share the bed tonight?” Atem’s voice was soft.

Seto didn’t respond for a while, still looking off into the distance, before he turned towards Atem, meeting his gaze. It had been a long day. “Let’s sleep.”


End file.
